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IFAW opens new center in Moscow to help stray animals

Monday, April 30, 2007

Moscow, Russia

IFAW (International Fund for Animal Welfare - www.ifaw.org) announced today that it has opened
in new center in Moscow to help stray dogs and cats. The center was constructed
in cooperation with Moscow authorities who supplied water and electricity for
the new building and also funded part of the construction costs. The bulk of the
construction was financed by IFAW which will also fund the day-to-day
operations.

The stray dog population of Moscow is estimated between 30,000 to 40,000
animals. Many of the strays suffer from human cruelty, hunger, and disease.
Aggressive animals have attacked city citizens in the past and the stray dog
population is a serious concern of Muscovites.

IFAW’s new center –
called the IFAW CLAW (Community Linked Animal Welfare) Center – was established
to help humanely control and reduce the stray animal population of Moscow. The
center is the hub of IFAW’s effort to engage and educate the community about
animal welfare issues, as well as the focal point for a program of vaccinations
and sterilizations of stray dogs and cats. The center also provides veterinarian
care for pets of impoverished people and helps IFAW advocate for stronger laws
to protect animals in Moscow.

IFAW’s Center includes a modern
surgery room and a large conference room (which also doubles as a classroom). .
Working in tandem with the new center is a mobile veterinary clinic, fully
equipped with anaesthesia, which travels throughout Moscow to provide basic
veterinary care. The center is an unprecedented project for Russia: no vet
clinic in the country has both a surgery vehicle and a stationary facility
dedicated to helping animals. IFAW’s new center can t accommodate up to 50 dogs
at a time as they prepare for and recovery from surgeries and a well-equipped
mini bus (Ford van) to transport animals.

“IFAW’s cooperation
with the Moscow authorities began five years ago with the IFAW Mobile vet
clinic, which has provided veterinarian aid to more than 12,000 animals. The
construction of this center is another step forward for our city animal welfare
program,” said Masha Vorontsova, IFAW’s Russian director.

Vorontsova and IFAW President Fred O’Regan hosted an opening
ceremony at the clinic which attracted more than 80 guests including
professional veterinarians, IFAW friends and allies, journalists, and state
officials. Among them were Oleg Mitvol, the deputy chief of the Russian
environmental watchdog Rosprirodnadzor, and Vera Stepanenko, head of the
Environment Commission of the Moscow city parliament.

Collaboration
with Moscow authorities had a tremendous significance in the creation of the
IFAW CLAW Center. Authorities helped solve the inevitable infrastructure
problems that large construction projects encounter in Moscow; that cooperation
demonstrated that city authorities support the community welfare programs
initiated by IFAW.

Galina Rodionova, the head of the local
district administration, Koptevo, where the new center is situated, stated, “The
alliance with a world famous animal welfare organization like IFAW enriches our
experience, helps solve the problem of stray dogs and cats more effectively with
no killing methods, and prevents cruelty to the animals.”

IFAW
president Fred O’Regan hailed the cooperation, “IFAW applauds Moscow’s decision
to seek more thoughtful approaches to address the problems facing the dogs and
cats that roam its streets. We’re pleased to help by providing spay/neuter
sterilization surgeries and vaccinations for both the homeless animals living on
the streets and for the pets of low income Muscovites. IFAW is delighted to open
this Animal Welfare Center. It is important because it will enable an increase
in the volume of surgeries and vaccinations that we can provide. It allows us to
do vital education work with the local community, while expanding our training
programs for professionals involved in management of the animal community. As a
permanent structure it indicates IFAW’s commitment to the animals and people of
Moscow.”

Guests at the opening were impressed by the scale of the
program and the equipment in the new center. The gas anaesthesia, which is a
rare practice in Russia, drew particular attention.

Cora Bailey,
IFAW-CLAW senior advisor from South Africa, stressed the humane aspect of the
event before cutting the symbolic ribbon - a traditional sign of the beginning
of a new and vast project. “Very few people in this world will ever see an
elephant, or a bear, or a tiger or even a seal. But every single person in this
world will interact with a dog or cat at some time in their lives – and that is
what sets companion animals apart from the rest. At CLAW we have a saying: ‘At
the end of every leash is a person,’ concluded Bailey.